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PA-18 is the GOP’s to Lose – and They Just Might Do It

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, described congressional candidate Conor Lamb as a “God-fearing, union-supporting, gun-owning, job-protecting, pension-defending Democrat” on Sunday.

How’s a Republican going to top that?

Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine Corps captain and a former federal prosecutor, is running against state representative Rick Saccone, 60, to fill Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, which was vacated when, as PJM reported, former Rep. Tim Murphy (R) allegedly asked his mistress to get an abortion.

Is the GOP nervous? Democrats have knocked GOP lawmakers out of a dozen Republican-held state legislative and congressional seats since October.

But PA-18 should be rock-solid Republican territory. President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the district by 20 percent, and Saccone said he was “Trump before Trump was Trump.”

“I ran on that agenda in 2010. It’s the same agenda – it’s the people’s agenda. The president just nationalized it,” Saccone said when he won the GOP’s nomination to run for the 18th congressional district seat.

The Economist reported the National Republican Campaign Committee spent more than $3.5 million on ads supporting Saccone, which was more than what the NRCC paid for marketing in 70 percent of the congressional districts the group hit hardest in 2016.

By contrast, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee only spent $312,500 to back Lamb.

Still, with Tuesday’s special election only hours away, Real Clear Politics called the race a “toss-up.”

Politicoreported the GOP’s problem is the GOP’s candidate. Rick Saccone is described by close to two dozen Trump administration officials, senior House Republicans and campaign strategists as “deeply underwhelming.”

Those interviewed by Politico said Saccone just wasn’t pulling his weight and was depending far too much on national GOP officials for fundraising and organization.

Even Trump was said to be less than enthused with Saccone after appearing with the candidate at a January fundraiser.

Ivanka Trump met Saccone in February at a small-business roundtable in Pittsburgh, and while the first daughter liked him she said Saccone lacked the charisma needed by a political candidate.

And a Republican National Committee survey showed only 47 percent of PA-18 voters saw Saccone favorably — three points below Trump’s rating in the district.

“In a tough political environment, candidate quality matters more than ever. In an anti-GOP year — which this is shaping up to be — the Republican candidates will need to run much stronger campaigns or be prepared for the national party to cut them loose,” Ken Spain, who served as a senior aide at the NRCC during the GOP’s 2010 House takeover, toldPolitico.

Saccone railed against reports that he was an inadequate candidate, blaming the media for flattering Lamb while ignoring his accomplishments.

“The media fawns over my opponent, trying to stretch his little thin resume and trying to make it sound like it’s something big, when I have a big resume that they to try and scrunch down and don’t say anything about,” Saccone said.